Stephanie had waited another week to tell Chris about the baby.

She just found that she had no right time to tell him. Every time she thought that she could bring it up, something happened and it was pushed to the back again. She knew that an announcement as huge as a baby shouldn't be kept to herself for much longer. What was she going to do, give birth and then tell Chris? It just didn't work that way and she knew it. But she was also really scared, especially after the things she had heard Chris say the week before.

Now more than ever, she figured that Chris was going to run. Or not necessarily run, but he wasn't going to stick around. The thoughts of her just not telling him still rolled around in her head, and she admitted that right after she had heard Chris say he didn't see the future with her in it, she had seriously contemplated not telling him at all and breaking up with him to spare him the attachment of a child. But still, she found that she couldn't and wouldn't do that.

They were lying in bed now, just about ready to fall asleep. Chris was intently watching television and she was lying on his chest with her eyes closed as she lulled herself to sleep with the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest as he breathed. She had just thrown up in the bathroom, masking the sound with the running water. Chris had been none the wiser and though she was still queasy, she managed to keep her nausea to a minimum. Any throwing up and Chris would be suspicious, but the nagging thought that she couldn't keep this inside anymore rang in her head again.

"Oh, that was so not a penalty!" Chris exclaimed at some play on the television and she was startled out of her thoughts as she opened her eyes. Chris had felt her jump against him and he looked down at the top of her head and said, "Sorry Steph, did I wake you?"

"No, I was just lying here," she told him and she felt him run his fingers through her hair.

"Okay, sorry anyways though," he told her as she rested her head back down on his bare chest.

"Chris?"

"Yeah? Did you want me to turn the TV off or something, is it too loud for you?" he asked, immediately assuming that it had to do with the television or something that was annoying to her and she wanted him to change.

"I'm pregnant," she told him plainly, but her voice was stinted and hitched a little at the end. She thought it just best that she come out and say it. Beating around the bush and softening the blow wouldn't do much of anything. It wouldn't change the situation in any way, so why sugarcoat it for him when it hadn't been sugarcoated for her?

"What?" Chris asked, "You're going to have to repeat that, damn TV was too loud."

"I'm pregnant," she repeated, not finding it any easier saying it the second time.

Chris was silent for several moments and she didn't dare move. Moving might make the situation worse, and right now she'd rather take the silence than take yelling. She didn't want yelling. So she would take this silence and the way his body froze against her head and tensed up to the point where she felt like she was laying on a slab of concrete.

Chris raised his hand up and ran it over his face a second, "You said you were pregnant right?"

"That is what I said, yes," Stephanie told him. "And it's confirmed, I went to the doctor and everything, I'm just about nine weeks along. I actually have my…uh, first official appointment in a few days."

"You were on birth control," Chris pointed out.

"I was, yes, but you know…it's not like…100 effective all the time Chris," Stephanie said, not liking where this conversation was going. He hadn't said anything in the positive, and while she knew his thoughts on their future, would he honestly deny his child? But then she thought to herself that she had had time to get used to this and she had actually cried the first time she had the chance after she had found out.

"Yeah, I…yeah," he just said, not knowing what else to say. "And you…you're…feeling?"

"I have some morning sickness, but it doesn't strike exclusively in the mornings, it's kind of arbitrary," she answered. "Um, my breasts are kind of…well, tender, and stuff, but other than that, I feel pretty okay, nothing wrong."

"And you haven't gotten a real chance to get looked at?" he asked.

"Uh…no, when I went, they confirmed it and told me to make an appointment, and so I did, and that appointment is, like I said, in a few days," Stephanie explained. "Chris…I just want you to know that I didn't plan this out. It took me by surprise, and I didn't just…I didn't plan this."

"Okay," Chris said, and he slipped out of bed, leaving Stephanie alone. He put on a pair of jeans and looked down at her, lying there in the big bed all alone. "Steph, I need some time okay, you kind of just shocked me here."

"Yeah, okay, um, take as much time as you need," Stephanie told him. She didn't want to lose him, she didn't want him to walk away so she would give him as much time as she needed, she would give him all the time, she just didn't want him to leave. "If you maybe need the night away from me, you can do that too, if you need to think."

"I might just do that," he said and she nodded, biting her lip. "Stephanie, this is a really huge thing, it's a really, really huge thing, and I'm not entirely sure how to take this. We've only been together for a year and we live in different states and we have no plan, this was not part of any plan. We don't plan, we were spontaneous and non-planners. I'm definitely going to need a little time, I'm going to need a lot of time."

"Okay, I understand," Stephanie told him. "I completely get that. Um…Chris, if you decide this is too much, if you decide this is too hard…I'd understand that too."

"You would?" She nodded. "Okay, well, I'm going to go then, I'll see you later or something."

She tried her best to muster up a smile, but couldn't do it. He started for the door and glanced back at her. She was sitting there, staring down at the bleached white sheets, her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. Her chin was leaning on said knees and she was just sitting there, staring.

She was beautiful, and he loved her. Who the hell was he kidding? And what the hell was he doing? His girlfriend tells him he's going to be a father, tells him that she's pregnant, and he runs like a coward? He got to have a baby, and he was running away. He smiled at the thought of having a child. He was thirty-one years old, it was about time he settled down anyways, and he loved Stephanie and wanted to be with her. He turned and walked straight to the bed and sat down facing her. He looked at her as she slowly lifted her head to look at him quizzically.

Immediately his arms were around her, hugging her to him. She didn't know what to make of this, but she finally let herself hug him back, clinging to him tightly, "I'm sorry Chris, I didn't want this to happen."

"No, don't you ever apologize," Chris said. "This is going to be good, we're going to be good and whatever we're having, boy or girl, is going to be great. We're a family now, the both of us and little Irvine in there. Okay, I'm here, and I'm always going to be here."

She was glad she had told him.

Stephanie was hugging her little boy tightly even before he could make it up the walkway. She had heard Chris's car pull up and she had raced out of the house and down the walkway to get to her little boy. She knelt down as he threw himself into her arms. She kissed his cheeks repeatedly as he tried to push her away.

"Mommy, this is too many kisses," he told her.

"I missed you though," she told him as Chris watched on affectionately. "Didn't you miss me too?"

"Yeah, I missed you, but me and Daddy and Grandpa went to a hockey game, and I had cotton candy and the game was fun, and the Moose won the game."

"Oh the Moose won, that's great," Stephanie said, referring to the Manitoba Moose, the AHL hockey team in Winnipeg. "And did you have fun spending time with Daddy?"

"Yeah, I wish you were there though," he told her, hugging her again.

"I wish I could've been too," she told him, and she meant it. "Have you eaten dinner yet, Finny? Or did you eat with Daddy?"

"He hasn't eaten yet," Chris interjected. Stephanie finally looked up to him. He had Finnegan's kid suitcase next to him and his backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Oh okay, well, I'll just have to make some dinner then. We'll figure something out, won't we Finny?"

"Mommy, Daddy can stay for dinner?" Finnegan asked. Stephanie looked to Chris, who looked uncomfortable by the prospect. She shrugged her shoulders a little bit, not sure what they should do about that. Chris shrugged too, not knowing how to proceed.

"Um…I don't know Finny," Stephanie said.

"Please?" Finnegan asked again.

"If its okay with Daddy, I don't see why he couldn't stay for dinner," Stephanie said, looking up at Chris.

"Well, I've never been one to turn down an invitation," Chris said as Stephanie stood up. This was partly his house after all. Stephanie held Finnegan's hand as she heard him chatter away as they walked up to the house. Stephanie glimpsed back at Chris and saw him bringing up the rear with Finnegan's luggage so she turned back around to walk in the house.

Chris watched their backs, the hair color the same as Stephanie grinned while hearing Finnegan relay some story. He walked inside the house and he was half-expecting it to be completely different, maybe any and all remnants of his existence had been purged from the house, like he had never been there, but it was exactly the same, nothing was out of place or missing. It was all just the same.

Their dinner was awkward at first, but like many things regarding Chris and Stephanie, it fell into a routine, and they put up pretences of happiness for the sake of their son. He was happy to have them all here, and while he still didn't quite get the entire breaking up thing, he was glad that for now he had both of them there so they could both listen to him tell his stories, which they seemed to hang off of every word with.

After dinner, Stephanie sent Finnegan upstairs to change into his pajamas as she and Chris started to gather the dishes. "You didn't have to stay and help with the dishes you know," Stephanie told him.

"Its okay, I wanted to stay and help, it's the least I can do since you actually cooked the meal," Chris said. "And thanks for inviting me over, I think it makes Finn a lot happier to know that we can still talk to each other."

"Yeah, I agree," said Stephanie.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet broke up their conversation as Finnegan padded his way into the kitchen, "Mommy, I put my jammies on like you said."

"Thank you Finny," Stephanie, going over and picking up her son. "Do you think it's time to go to bed?"

"Yeah, I can go to bed," he told her, rubbing at his eye a little. "Daddy, can you tuck me in too?"

"Sure kiddo," Chris said, coming over and taking Finnegan from Stephanie's arms and giving him a big hug before putting him down. "Race you to your room?"

"Yeah!" Finnegan said as he took off running.

"Hey no fair, you're cheating!" Chris yelled as he took off after the little boy. "No headstarts!"

Stephanie followed after them, hearing their laughter as they made their way upstairs, Chris catching up to Finnegan and lifting him up by his pants and carrying him off to bed. This was the kind of thing she missed with Chris not around. She knew it was the best decision to let him go, but she missed this. She missed the little moments, but she reminded herself of her purpose. She was giving Chris what he deserved, the chance to do what he really wanted to do.

There was a short interlude for teeth-brushing before they made their way to the bedroom itself. She got into the room and Chris was sitting on the edge of Finnegan's hockey bed as the boy was crawling under the covers. Stephanie came over and sat on the other side of the bed as Finnegan settled himself under the blankets as Chris pulled them up for him as the little boy's head hit the pillow with a soft whoosh of air.

"Do you have everything you need?" Stephanie asked.

"Yup."

"Did you want some water?" Chris asked.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Story?" Stephanie asked.

"Uh uh," Finnegan said as he started to doze off already, tired from his long flight from Canada earlier that day. Chris nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss to Finnegan's forehead. Stephanie leaned in to do the same, brushing a little bit of his hair back as she did so. She kissed him on the forehead and he closed his eyes as his parents watched him drift off to sleep. When they were satisfied by his level of tucking in, they went downstairs to finish the rest of the dishes.

Stephanie put the last dish into the dishwasher as Chris turned off the water. There was nothing left for her to do, or him to do for that matter. She wiped her hands with a paper towel, tossing it at the garbage and making it, doing a little victory sway. Chris watched her do that, and didn't want to leave. They had many nights like this one and for all intents and purposes they had been married without the rings.

"Well, that's everything," Stephanie said awkwardly.

"What are you doing for the rest of the night?"

"I have some ideas to go over, smooth over really, then I'm going to do a little revising for next week's script, so yeah, I have a fun-filled, exciting night ahead of me," she said sarcastically. "You?"

"Don't know," he shrugged. "But I guess I should…"

"Yeah, you probably should…"

"Yeah," he said, looking around. Stephanie looked at him a moment and he turned slightly so that he was facing her. He cleared his throat. He didn't want to leave. This was his house as much as it was Stephanie's, and he had lived here for the past five years. "So I guess I'll see you…later…"

"Yeah, and you know, thanks for coming, Finny loved that you were here, I think he gets a little homesick for you when you're not around. But it's just something that we all have to get used to," she nodded to herself, looking down at the ground.

Heaven help him, he thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world in that moment. Her hair was framing her face. When they had first started seeing each other, she had this long brown hair that he couldn't keep his fingers out of, and when she wore it wavy, Chris was mesmerized to the point of distraction. She had gone through a horrible phase of bangs and blonde hair somewhere around the time soon after Finnegan was born. He told her constantly to change it, and after much prodding, her hair was back to its original beauty, long, brown, no bangs and sometimes she wore it wavy, or at least she used to.

Her profile was one he knew well, better than anyone's, even his son's. He knew her eyes, the way they were blue and then gray and then blue again, an enchanting dance of sorts. And he knew the curves of her body. He knew everything and anything about her. He knew the way she felt and kissed and touched him. He knew her smile and the way her eyes would light up when she got a good idea or the way she'd sit on the counter dangling her legs as she watched him cook dinners on his nights to cook, just like Finnegan did when he got old enough to sit on the counter.

He knew the way she was an awesome mother, something she had told him she was born to be good at because she was the consummate professional. He had laughed at her looking at Finnegan like a project, but as time wore on, she tackled every project that Finnegan threw their way. He loved the way she held the little boy when he was upset, or the way she'd make funny faces at him when he wanted to giggle or the way she would tuck him in at night.

Stephanie looked up at him and was caught by surprise that he was staring at her with a fierce look in his eyes, an almost predatory look. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get the words out because Chris was kissing her. His tongue sought out hers as he pulled her by the hips to get closer to him. It was a move she was familiar with as this scene had been mirrored many times before. She found herself wrapping her arms around his neck as she let herself enjoy this moment.

Chris felt her moan against his mouth and it was so easy, this was all so easy. He started to walk her slowly to the counter as he lifted her unexpectedly and set her down above him as she gave a little squeal against his mouth. He stood between her legs as she wrapped them around him. He cupped her face in his hands as he leaned up to her mouth. She ran her hands through his short hair. She still hated that it was short, but she had learned to deal with it, and she had never loved the feel of it more than she did that second.

Chris needed this, he needed her and she didn't even realize it. He didn't know what was going through her mind, but he knew that he was going crazy without her. Maybe she didn't feel the same need as he did. That's when he realized what he was doing, what they were doing and the fact that they shouldn't be doing this. He pulled away from her gently and she whimpered at the loss of contact.

"I'm sorry, that was completely wrong of me to do," Chris whispered to her. "I think that I should probably just go."

"No," Stephanie whined as she leaned in to capture Chris's lips again and let them cover her own again. It had felt so good and so safe and at-home, and she didn't want to give that up again.

"Stephanie, I can't do this anymore. If we ever have any hopes of moving on past each other, we're going to have to stop this. We should probably stop seeing each other outside of you know…Finn."

"What? You mean stop talking to each other?"

"I think for a while, it'd be good," he said, going against every fiber of his being. But if Stephanie and him were broken up, they couldn't fall into this routine. "Stephanie, I can't be with you like this, I need more from you. I can't come home and not be with you in the way that I want to be with you."

"Oh, so you want to just cut all contact then? You want to get a go-between for Finn? How about I just drop him off at like Shane's and then you pick him up from there and then you'd never have to see me again!" Stephanie said, starting to get angry. He had gotten her hopes up and now he was dashing them again. She thought, for a brief moment, that things could be the way they were. She'd take it. She'd take him back if it meant he'd be here. She might not be what he wanted, but he was what she needed.

"Look, don't get pissed at me! I'm not the one that broke us up, you broke up with me! You can't even marry me!"

"Get out," Stephanie said, venom in her voice and fire in her eyes. "Get the hell out of my house!"

"This is my fucking house too!" Chris yelled.

"No, no it's not, you forfeited that when you left!"

"I had no choice!" Chris countered. "I can't be with you anymore, I can't be with you and not have all of you, don't you get that?"

"Get out! Just get the hell out of here! You don't get me Chris, you don't get anything about me! So just get the hell out of my sight!"

"Maybe if you told me!" he yelled at her.

"No, okay, go because what I want, what I knew all along…just go Chris," she said, letting the fight drain out of her. "I'm not going to have our son wake up to hear us fighting. If you don't want to speak to me, fine, I can live with that."

For a moment, Chris had thought he had gotten through to her, but obviously he hadn't. He closed his eyes. "If we're apart, we can move on. We won't have to rely on the other."

"Fine," she said dully. "I won't contact you unless it has to do with Finny. I won't put the burden on you."

If Chris had gotten the implications of what she was saying, maybe he would've gotten it. If he had ignored the hurt in his heart, maybe he would've seen the hurt written so plainly in her face. Maybe he would've heard the deeper meaning behind her words, the reasons all being laid out right there in front of his face. But Chris didn't pick up on any of it, and that was going to be his downfall.

So he left, and with his departure, he began two new beginnings.

For two people forever entwined.